NYC-Feature Story

The Hard Sell
My visit with an Army recruiter

By Cara Brumfield

The hallway to the Manhattan building felt like it was straight out of the Men in Black headquarters-long and kind of mysterious, except there were stairs at the end and not an elevator. I went upstairs to one of the Army recruiting offices and was waved in by a secretary. Moments later, Mr. Recruiter came in and I told him I had questions about the military. I told him I was 18 and out of high school, doing nothing with my life.

That wasn't true. I'm only 15 and still in school. But I wanted to see how hard a recruiter would pressure me if he thought I was a catch.

Army's Stretched Thin

I figured he'd try hard. With our soldiers all over Afghanistan and Iraq, our military is stretched pretty thin. Soldiers who are supposed to come home from Iraq are being held longer, and soldiers whose contracts are up are being kept in the service. Reserves-soldiers who have already served their active duty but still have a contract with the military-are being called up after years of living comfortable civilian lives.

With all this going on, the military has been criticized for giving a high-pressure sales pitch to young men and women who are struggling financially by promising them a better life. I wanted to see if this was true, and if so, how they'd do it.

I also figured they'd try hard to recruit me whoever I was, since recruiters are expected to find about two new soldiers a month. If a recruiter got me to join, that'd be half of his required haul.

My Dream Vacation?

Mr. Recruiter was in his mid-30s and a seemingly happy, pleasant man. Throughout our conversation, he winked at me as if he was telling me secret blessings about the Army that few people knew of. He was also cracking jokes, and at first I kind of liked him.

But as the meeting progressed, I began to like him less. I went into that office expecting a man to try hard to recruit me, and I felt fairly confident that I'd be able to handle the pressure. But by the end of our meeting, I felt uncomfortable and intimidated.

Mr. Recruiter sat me down at his desk and asked me what questions I had. I felt pretty calm and collected. I said, "How can I benefit from joining the Army?"

First Mr. Recruiter told me about free education and travel. He laid it on pretty thick. He asked me, "What would be your dream vacation?" I told him going anywhere in Europe.

That's when he started telling me about how much of Europe he's seen while in the Army. He said he's seen about 80% of Europe. He told me he saw the Eiffel Tower and sipped soda in Venice.

Don't Worry About Iraq?

On the topic of travel he had plenty to say about France and Italy, but he didn't mention places like Iraq or Afghanistan, so my next question was, "What are my chances of being sent to Iraq?" He told me the chances were slim, but that it depended on my job. He went on to reassure me that things were winding down in Iraq.

(Later on, though, I interviewed his supervisor, Lieutenant Colonel John Gillett, who told me he couldn't say what my chances were of being sent to Iraq. He also said there's no way to know how long our military will be in Iraq.)

Next Mr. Recruiter said something really strange. He talked about his friends in Iraq, who, he said, send him postcards telling him how it's like they're on vacation. I had to wonder about Mr. Recruiter's friends, since I don't see many tourists flocking to Iraqi hotspots for fun in the Iraqi sun.

Better Than College?

After we finished talking about Iraq, Mr. Recruiter spoke about my future. He implied that joining the army would provide me with a better future than going straight to college, because many colleges don't prepare students for particular jobs.

Even though he tried to make it sound like college might not be too helpful for my future, he emphasized that a lot of the Army training can count for college credits. He also belittled the value of most financial aid, pointing out that you have to pay most of it back. (While you don't have to pay back scholarships and grants, it's true that you have to pay back any loans you take out.)

A Second Recruiter

After I'd been there a while, Mr. Recruiter put a CD into his laptop and brought up a list of informational videos on many of the jobs that a person can have in the Army. He showed me some videos about the fields I said I was interested in, like health science and public affairs.

Another man came up and tried to give Mr. Recruiter some backup. (A recent New York Times article about how the military's having a hard time recruiting enough soldiers said that recruiting centers can go for hours without visitors, so maybe he wanted to help out.)

Backup Recruiter wanted me to take a test to see if I qualified for a job in public affairs. (In the military, a public affairs job would be talking to the public and to the media about the military's position on different topics.)

Get Me Out of Here

But by that time I wanted to get out of there. Now I not only had one man trying to recruit me, but two. I was starting to feel like I wasn't in control. I didn't want them to find out that I wasn't 18, and I didn't want to be pressured into signing up for any tests or filling out any forms.

I told them I had to leave. Backup Recruiter asked me where I had to go. First I replied, "Somewhere." Then I told him I had to talk things over with my mom. He said, "You have to talk to someone about something you don't even know if you're qualified for yet?"

He was getting rude, and if I hadn't been so focused on getting out of there, I would have taken offense. I told him that I needed to decide if I even wanted to take the test to see if I was qualified. He said he thought I'd done that before I came in. He muttered something about me having a good day as he walked off, but he seemed pretty mad. Since I'd said I was interested, he must have felt I was wasting his time.

No Place for Thoughtful Decisions

When I left I felt relieved but still anxious. I thought that someone's decision to join the military shouldn't be made under those circumstances. A person who's undecided or easily intimidated, or even someone who isn't, could be influenced in a way that I feel is unfair.

If I were really thinking of joining the military, I would want to make the decision after I'd learned complete information and weighed all my options. I'd want to decide with the help of family, or with people I trusted to have my best interest at heart. I didn't like that the recruiters acted like my mom shouldn't be involved in my decision.

I Know We Need Soldiers...

Now, I've been knocking recruiters pretty hard, but I know there's a reason for military recruitment. I don't know whether I support our presence in Iraq, but in general, I do believe that we need the military to protect our country, now and always. And in order to have a military, we need to have soldiers.

But I think it's the government's responsibility to tell the truth, without sugarcoating it and without misleading people. I think part of the problem is that recruiters might be getting two messages from their supervisors: One is not to lie, and the other is to do whatever they have to do to get young people to join the military.

I understand the military's dilemma. But part of me feels like our politicians should have thought harder about the number of soldiers necessary for this war before we started it. If we can't fight a war without lying to the young people who we want to sacrifice their lives for it, I don't know if it's a war we can afford to fight.

...But Be Honest About Army Reality

Recruiters are using free education and the promise of travel to encourage young people to join the military. But I think recruiters need to lay out all the facts-including the hard ones.

I can't stand the thought of young men and women, who could be my brother, or my cousin, joining the Army under false pretenses. Especially right now. Whether or not Mr. Recruiter wants to admit it, young soldiers are fighting and dying in Iraq.